Companies hire foreigners as British workers 'unwilling to move', says Chris Bryant - Telegraph Immigration Companies hire foreigners as British workers 'unwilling to move', says Chris Bryant Employers have had to hire more foreigners because British workers are “less physically mobile”, according to Labour’s immigration spokesman. By Christopher Hope , Senior Political Correspondent 1:41PM BST 12 Aug 2013 Follow Chris Bryant MP was forced to deny he had been “nobbled by Tesco” after having to change parts of his speech following protests by the supermarket giant. In a speech on immigration, Mr Bryant criticised employers for bringing in foreigners to work in areas in Britain with high unemployment rates. He said: “I want to see the Government to take action - working with companies - to make sure they can recruit more local young people, qualified to the job.” Later Mr Bryant was asked whether he accepted that employers were forced to go overseas because Britons were too lazy. He said: “A lot of employers have said this to me but I think that is far too easy a get out. It is true that immigration is affected by welfare policies and a whole range of other things.

Related Articles Immigration backlog is the size of Iceland 08 Nov 2012 “And it may well be that people in the UK are physically less mobile than people elsewhere in the European Union. But I don’t think that is good enough. “If we are going to prosper as a country we have got to get in particular in those areas which have high levels of unemployment and long term economic decline, we have got to make it possible for more of those people into the labour market.” Mr Bryant’s comments have echoes of the famous remarks from Norman Tebbit who said in the 1980s that the unemployed should get on their bikes and find a job. In the aftermath of the 1981 riots, Lord Tebbit responded to a suggestion by a Conservative that rioting was the natural reaction to unemployment by saying: "I grew up in the '30s with an unemployed father. He didn't riot. He got on his bike and looked for work, and he kept looking till he found it." In his speech, Mr Bryant also went further than other Labour politicians to apologise for Labour’s mistakes over immigration policy in the past. He said: “True, Labour made mistakes on immigration.

When we came to power in 1997 we had to tackle the complete chaos in the Asylum system, when just fifty members of staff were dealing with 71,000 asylum applications every year. “Labour created the position of Immigration Minister to bring real focus to these issues right across government. But although we were right to introduce the points based system in 2008, we should have done that far earlier. “And when the new A8 countries joined the EU we were so focused on economic growth that when Germany, France and Italy all put in transitional controls on new EU workers, we went it alone. The result? A far higher number of people came to work here.” During his speech Mr Bryant was forced into an embarrassing climbdown over criticism of high street store chains Tesco and Next for using foreign workers. The shadow immigration minister dropped key passages from a speech after advance extracts briefed to newspapers over the weekend drew a furious response from the companies. He had been due to suggest that the supermarket giant deliberately drafted in cheap foreign staff when it moved distribution centres, and that Next employed Polish workers to avoid agency workers' regulations.

But the accusations were scrapped from the final text, and Mr Bryant also made clear he did not regard the firms as “unscrupulous” employers. The controversy reinforced concerns about Labour’s failure to use Westminster's summer lull to garner positive coverage. The row erupted after the Sunday Telegraph reported that Mr Bryant would condemn companies that brought over large numbers of workers to the UK from low-wage EU countries, putting them up in substandard accommodation without paying the national minimum wage and undercutting local workers. He had been due to highlight a new Tesco distribution centre “in Kent”, where he said a "large percentage" of the staff were from the eastern bloc, and Next's warehouse in South Elmsall, West Yorkshire, where hundreds of Polish workers were employed for the summer sales. But interviewed on BBC Radio 4's Today programme Mr Bryant said: “I fully accept that Next and Tesco often go the extra mile to try and recruit local workers. “The difficulty is, I would say, that the way we regulate our economy and the labour market in the UK has meant that sometimes there are negative sides to migration in terms of the labour market, in particular for those who are within spitting distance of the national minimum wage.

“The very simple point is that both Tesco and Next have had to use non-UK nationals in their new operations - in Next's case, two summers in a row in relatively large numbers. “My question is, and always was going to be, and still remains today, when we have one million unemployed youngsters under the age of 24 in this country, and we have a very high level of long-term unemployment, is there a way in which we can regulate labour markets in this country better so that foreign migrant workers are not exploited, as happens in some cases? I am not saying that specifically about Tesco and Next.” He also admitted that the Tesco distribution centre he was referring to was in Dagenham, east London, and not Kent. “I don't know where Kent came into it. It was always Essex,” he said. He added: “It is entirely my responsibility for my speech and the pre-briefing of my speech beforehand.” Delivering his address to the ippr think-tank in London, Mr Bryant praised Tesco as “a good employer and an important source of jobs in Britain” but suggested it needed to provide more assurance about its recruitment practices at Dagenham. “Tesco are clear they have tried to recruit locally.

And I hope they can provide more reassurance for their existing staff. But the fact that staff are raising concern shows how sensitive the issue has become,” he said. He also acknowledged that firms like Next sometimes needed to employ workers on short-term contracts, but questioned its reliance on workers from Poland. “Now, of course, short-term contracts and work are sometimes necessary in order to satisfy seasonal spikes in demand. “But when agencies bring such a large number of workers of a specific nationality at a time when there are one million young unemployed in Britain, it is right to ask why that is happening.” get on your bike for "look for work" | WordReference Forums get on your bike for "look for work" Hi, I am reading through Cambridge Idioms Dictionary, 2nd ed. (2006). I found this phrase, "get on your bike." Meaning given: "to go out to look for work." Is it really used in this sense? I couldn't find it in either COCA or BNC. Thank you! New Zealand English (London/Essex) I beleive this phrase was coined by Norman Tebbit at a Consrvative Party Conference back in the 1980s.

I can't provide a source for this, it's based purely on recollection. "On your bike" without the 'get' is a very common idiomatic phrase meaning, roughly, 'go away, I don't want you here'. Edit: Although I know what it means, and it has been used frequently in the media, I have never actually heard it in general usage. susanna76 Senior Member Romanian So then "on your bike," in common, colloquial usage, means "go away." And "get on your bike" means "go look for work" in the media? Massachusetts, U.S. English - U.S. "To get on your bike" means to start in on some activity - by extension from getting on a bicycle being the first step in riding it to somewhere. The activity might be looking for work, but it might also be something else - such as doing one's schoolwork, preparing dinner, almost anything. It depends on the context. Someone using this expression would know what the context is. Without context, we can't say if it's one thing or another. susanna76 Senior Member Romanian Oh, interesting. I wish the dictionary had mentioned that it's not restricted to looking for work.

(But maybe in BrE it is?) New Zealand English (London/Essex) "On your bike" implies movement in every sense that it is used. "On your bike!" to me is something said to nuisance children when you want them to go away, or something said when turning down a ridiculously unacceptable offer in a negotiation. The latter of these is more common usage, the former is a bit antiquated but it does explain the etymology. There will be tons of idiomatic usages. However, the 'go look for work' definiton has only appeared in that publication as a result of Tebbit's very famous and controversial speech. I see, dadane! Thank you! Central Illinois American English This is new to me; I've never heard "get on your bike" used in any way other than its literal meaning. English (Midlands UK) This is a purely British meaning with strong political overtones. The right-wing English politician Norman Tebbitt had (probably still has) a 1930s view of Britain where unemployed but honest working men in cloth caps got on their push-bikes and went round factories knocking on doors, saying "Excuse me guv, but have you got any vacancies?".

In 1981 he said: "I grew up in the '30s with an unemployed father. He didn't riot. He got on his bike and looked for work, and he kept looking till he found it." Since then, the dismissive phrase "on your bike!" has gained an extra dimension. Iain Duncan Smith's right... there ARE jobs out there | Daily Mail Online comments In the 1981 Conservative Party Conference, Norman Tebbit, at the time Employment Secretary and MP for Chingford responded to suggestions that inner city riots were due to unemployment. ‘I grew up in the '30s with an unemployed father,’ said Tebbit. ‘He didn't riot. He got on his bike and looked for work, and he kept looking 'til he found it.’ Then yesterday at a Tory Conference, Iain Duncan Smith – Mr Tebbit’s successor both in his Chingford constituency and for much of his cabinet brief - offered the same tough message. Tough messages: IDS, left, echoed Norman Tebbit's 'get on your bike' statement IDS, the Work and Pensions Secretary, said that, of course, we need to create more jobs.

But he added that it was ‘short-sighted to say there aren't any jobs at the moment.’ He said there were ‘half a million vacancies in the economy at the moment.’ Furthermore he was talking about the official ones - those notified to Job Centre Plus (for which you can search by locality and job description on a website called direct.gov.uk). Frequently employers bypass this procedure and recruit in a host of other ways - from putting a notice on their website or a notice in their window. RELATED ARTICLES Share this article Share With the recession unemployment has risen sharply but in his speech IDS stressed there was a longer term challenge: ‘It's not the absence of jobs that's the problem - it's the failure to match the unemployed to the jobs there are. The last 13 years saw the number of people in employment increase by some 2.5 million. And yet we had around five million people on out-of-work benefits ten years ago -and around five million people on out-of-work benefits today. So who took all the new jobs? Over half of them went to foreign nationals. This isn't about immigration. It is a simple question of supply and demand. We had a supply of labour - the unemployed.

We had a demand for labour - all the new jobs. But we couldn't match them up, so we had to import people who could do the work. So much for Brown's ‘British jobs for British workers.’ In other words it's no use simply blaming the foreigners for taking our jobs. Millions of our fellow countrymen have failed to take those on offer. Motivated: Jason Fruen got a job by advertising his skills on a sandwich board To repeat this is not the entire problem. There are more unemployed than there are vacancies. The better the job the more people apply. It is key to create more jobs. But it is also naive to imagine that were two million new vacancies were appear overnight that unemployment would vanish. Amidst the sea lethargy there are heartening islands of hope. Jason Fruen, a mechanical maintenance engineer in Manchester was looking for a job. Instead of Jobseekers Alliance and got a sandwich board and stood at Trafford Park Industrial Estate by Junction 9 on the M60. Humiliating? He didn't find it so. The response was positive as motorists tooted and waved with encouragement.

More to the point he was soon offered a job that was commensurate with his talents and his need to pay the mortgage. Sure he had the skills but what really got him the job was that he proved he had got the motivation. There are successful charities near where I live in west London. For example, Spear and My Generation both ave a much higher success rate than the Government schemes at helping the young unemployed get into work. . At Spear, for instance, over 75 per cent of people they help find work or go on to further education. Elsewhere other charities such as Tomorrow's People have also achieved great success. Rather than a passive, dreary, bureaucratic approach, we should tell the unemployed to stop feeling like victims or to imagine the world owes them a living. Finding a job is about having the skills and the job being available but it is also about an attitude of mind. Getting on your bike may sound a tough message. But it is a far more positive one that telling the young unemployed everything is hopeless, society is to blame and that they have no chance.

Britain is no country for old men: Britain is still a country for an old Member of Parliament called Lord Tebbit, once 'Mrs Thathcher's Rottweiler' and now 'on the side of the angels' Tweet Friday, 23 December 2011 Britain is still a country for an old Member of Parliament called Lord Tebbit, once 'Mrs Thathcher's Rottweiler' and now 'on the side of the angels' Norman Tebbit, an 80 year old political veteran, prominent in Margaret Thatcher's Governement in the 1980's and universally hated by the political left, is at last basking in popularity. An article in 'The Gaurdian' this week was entitled : Lord Tebbit enjoying 'being on side of angels' in battle over legal aid cuts. Apparently, he is campaigning to preserve legal aid for children involved in medical negligence cases and is opposing Government financial cutbacks in this area. He said : "I have listened and read the arguments and I think there's sufficient in it that we ought to examine.

It's nice to be on the side of the angels for once." Michael Foot as Labour leader of the opposition in Parliament once memorably described him as a "semi-house trained polecat" in recognition of his fierce right wing views. What you possibly didn't know about Norman, that he : * was born into a working class family in Middlesex who after leaving school did 4 years of National Service in the Royal Air Force flying Meteor and Vampire jets and once had to break open the cockpit canopy of a burning Mosquito aircraft to escape. * joined BOAC at the age of 22 in 1953 as a pilot, was an official in the British Air Line Pilots' Association and elected as a Conservative Member of Parliament in 1970. * in the aftermath of the 1981 London riots, responded to a suggestion by a Young Conservative that rioting was the natural reaction to unemployment saying : " I grew up in the '30s with an unemployed father. He didn't riot. He got on his bike and looked for work, and he kept looking 'til he found it".

* from that point on was often misquoted as saying directly to the unemployed : "get on your bike and look for work" and* during a debate in Parliament in 1978, was labelled by the Leader of the Labour Party, Michael Foot, as a "semi-house-trained polecat". * in the 1979 Conservative Governement was appointed Under-Secretary at the Ministry of Trade and in 1981 as Employment Secretary and was portrayed as a sinister, leather-clad bovverboy by the satirical TV puppet show, 'Spitting Image'. Why 1981 was the year that forged modern Britain | Daily Mail Online Why 1981 was the year that forged modern Britain comments Thirty years ago, as millions of people prepared to celebrate another Royal Wedding, Britain stood at a crossroads. With the economy in deep recession, unemployment rising and Margaret Thatcher’s Tory Government in desperate trouble, the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer seemed a much-needed break from an unrelenting stream of bad news. Even by the standards of the day, 1981 was a year of extraordinary political and cultural tumult.

It was a hinge moment in our modern history, marking the death of the old consensus and the beginning of a new age of consumerism, individualism and technological change. Light relief: With the economy in deep recession and unemployment rising the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer seemed a much-needed break from an unrelenting stream of bad news Abroad, it saw an assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II, the first appearance of Dynasty on American television and the inauguration of President Ronald Reagan. There was the birth of the MTV music channel, the foundation of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), the appearance of the small, relatively inexpensive and pioneering Sinclair ZX81 computer - which kickstarted the rise of home computing - and the Eurovision victory of manufactured British band Bucks Fizz. RELATED ARTICLES Share this article Share It also saw Muhammad Ali take the ring for the last time, Argentine footballer Ricky Villa score a dramatic FA Cup Final winner for Tottenham Hotspur, Shergar win the Derby, Tom Baker give way to Peter Davison in Doctor Who, and Granada TV triumph with Brideshead Revisited. Yet even more than in 2011, the British people entered the year in a state of unparalleled gloom.

Two years earlier, Mrs Thatcher had inherited an economy in which inflation was rocketing and unemployment was about to take off. Like Penelope Keith’s character in the sitcom To The Manor Born, whose final episode in 1981 attracted 24 million viewers, Mrs Thatcher cut a formidable and unflinching figure. But her bold austerity measures after taking power in 1979 — slashing spending and putting up VAT — were taking a heavy toll on the nation’s morale. By the beginning of 1981, British company profits had fallen by 20 per cent, manufacturing output had fallen by 15 per cent and unemployment had almost doubled — the biggest leap since the Great Depression. Near tragedy: 1981 saw an assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II when he was shot during a public appearance in the Vatican city And for those out of work, the dreamy New Romantic pop movement, the BBC’s new show Only Fools And Horses and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical Cats came as cold comfort. Beset by criticism, the Government seemed in meltdown. At the beginning of the year, almost incredibly, Michael Foot’s Labour Party stood 24 points ahead in opinion polls.

But despite the criticism of his economic policies, Chancellor Geoffrey Howe stuck to his guns. Instead of easing the brakes in his 1981 Budget, he squeezed the money supply even tighter, freezing tax allowances that would normally have gone up in line with 15 per cent inflation. Outraged, 364 economists signed a sensational letter to The Times, claiming that Howe’s policy was plunging Britain into catastrophe. But the Government refused to change course, for as Mrs Thatcher had told the Tories a few months earlier, the lady was ‘not for turning’. Meanwhile, Labour were tearing themselves apart. As the hard-Left Tony Benn launched a challenge for the party’s deputy leadership, Shirley Williams, David Owen and Bill Rodgers walked out to join Roy Jenkins, as the so-called Gang of Four, in the new Social Democratic Party. Overnight, the SDP rocketed to first place in the opinion polls — with the Tories limping in a poor third. As unemployment mounted, millions tried to forget their troubles. The first London Marathon, in March, proved a massive success: as one reader wrote in this newspaper, perhaps it might help ‘to restore a bit of the old selfless spirit that made this country great’.

Meanwhile, thousands flocked to the cinema for the hit British film Chariots Of Fire, an unashamedly patriotic spectacle that later won an Oscar for Best Picture. And tens of millions of TV viewers witnessed the young Steve Davis beat Doug Mountjoy for his first snooker World Championship. But as the much-anticipated Royal Wedding approached, there was more terrible news. In Northern Ireland, IRA prisoners had gone on hunger strike, demanding special privileges that Mrs Thatcher had sworn never to grant. On May 5, the first hunger striker, Bobby Sands, died in jail. And over the next few weeks, more than 60 soldiers, police and civilians were killed in an upsurge of violence across the war-torn province. That same month, Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe, whose 13 murders had horrified the nation, was jailed for life at the Old Bailey. Meanwhile Britain’s cities, too, were smouldering. In South London, years of tensions between West Indian immigrants and the Metropolitan Police had reached boiling point, with many residents claiming that the police were abusing stop-and-search laws to intimidate the area’s black community.

Drama: Dynasty - a showcase of all that was wonderful and woeful about the 1980s - hit our screens for the first time in 1981 Brixton was a powder keg, with unemployment running at 13 per cent overall and 25 per cent among West Indians. About half of all young black men were out of work, and unsurprisingly, frustration was running high. On April 10, a misunderstanding over an injured youth sparked fierce attacks on police in Brixton. Disorder rapidly escalated into riot: within hours, thousands of black youths were fighting pitched battles with some 3,000 policemen. As Brixton burned, mobs looted electronics, jewellery and furniture stores, even though many were owned by black families. ‘Those poor shopkeepers!’ said Mrs Thatcher when she toured the area later — an instinctive sign of sympathy from the Grantham grocer’s daughter. Some 300 policemen were badly injured, and 65 members of the public. To the horror of most observers, 30 premises were burned and 117 looted, leaving deep scars on Brixton’s physical and economic landscape.

Yet at the time, some on the Left exulted at what they called the ‘Brixton Uprising’. Indeed, in an age of extraordinary political polarisation, the London Labour Briefing magazine, which was close to the capital’s council leader Ken Livingstone, exulted that ‘the street fighting was excellent, but could have been (and hopefully in future will be) better organised’. Good times and bad: With Margaret Thatcher's Tory Government in desperate trouble, at least she had her special relationship with American President Ronald Reagan to console her Even three decades on, those are genuinely shocking words. More shocking, though, were the copycat riots that followed. That summer, Britain’s cities rose up in fury. In Toxteth, Liverpool, another area badly hit by unemployment, more than 450 policemen were badly hurt, 500 people were arrested and 70 buildings were destroyed. For the first time, British police were attacked with paving stones and petrol bombs; for the first time, they responded with tear gas. There were more riots in Handsworth, Birmingham, and Chapeltown, Leeds. Yet although Left-wingers tried to blame the government, Mrs Thatcher’s ministers refused to buckle.

Indeed, the response of her new Employment Secretary made his name almost overnight. ‘I grew up in the Thirties with an unemployed father,’ said Norman Tebbit. ‘He didn’t riot. He got on his bike and looked for work.’ Amid this litany of misery came a ray of light from an unexpected source. Appointed as England cricket captain a year earlier, Ian Botham cut a very miserable figure. Defeat followed defeat; at one stage he was even reduced to trading punches with irate members in the Lords pavilion after they accused him of delaying play. In it to win it: 1981 also saw the Eurovision victory of manufactured British band Bucks Fizz When England failed to win either of the first two Tests in the summer’s Ashes series, the selectors forced Botham to resign. And in the third Test at Headingley, England performed lamentably, ending their first innings with just 174 runs, some 227 behind Australia. Against a backdrop of such appalling political and economic turmoil, it seemed that nothing better summed up Britain’s utter decline. But what happened next was one of the most heroic moments in the history of sport.

With England staring at disaster, Botham went out and played one of the greatest innings of all time, smashing the Australian bowlers around the ground for an unbeaten 149 runs. The next day, England were a side transformed. As bowler Bob Willis rampaged through the Australian batsmen, the impossible happened. By the end, England had won by 18 runs. From the depths of despair, they had turned the Test - and the series - around. Few realised it at the time. But it was to prove an omen for Mrs Thatcher’s embattled Government - a reminder that if she refused to give up, then victory would ultimately be hers. And just eight days later, there was another sign of the instinctive popular patriotism that would help sweep the Conservatives to victory two years later. Sporting history: With England staring at disaster in the third Ashes test, Ian Botham went out and played one of the greatest innings of all time, smashing the Australian bowlers around the ground for an unbeaten 149 runs When Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer had become engaged in February 1981, republicans had been quick to complain about the spectacle of a Royal Wedding amid such economic austerity.

Then, as now, well-heeled intellectuals mocked and sneered at the ordinary working-class people who looked forward to a national party. Some Left-wingers wore badges reading ‘Don’t Do it, Di!’ A group of ambitious Labour politicians, including Peter Mandelson and Harriet Harman, ostentatiously went to France for the day. And at the County Hall council headquarters, Ken Livingstone organised a rival meeting with IRA supporters, releasing 1,000 black balloons to mourn the Royal Wedding. But on that warm, bright July day, nobody really cared about Ken Livingstone. Suddenly, it was as though the British people had suddenly realised the strength of the ties that bound them together. On the streets of London, more than two million people poured out to watch the procession from Buckingham Palace to St Paul’s Cathedral. Brixton riots: In South London, years of tensions between West Indian immigrants and the Metropolitan Police had reached boiling point, with many residents claiming that the police were abusing stop-and-search laws to intimidate the area's black community Across the nation, a record 30 million people sat glued to their sets as Dr Robert Runcie, the Archbishop of Canterbury, presided over what he called a ‘fairytale’ wedding.

And a staggering 750 million people worldwide - an all-time record for a public occasion - tuned in to watch, a sign of the enduring appeal of the world’s most prestigious monarchy. As we know now, the fairy tale had no happy ending. And things have changed enormously since the days when the average house cost just £24,000, as it did back in 1981. But looking back, you realise just how much the year’s events shaped our recent history. By refusing to change course, Margaret Thatcher decisively broke with post-war politics and ushered in a new age, in which we still live today. From the first home computers to the innovation of music videos, from an Argentine footballer scoring the Cup Final winner to the rise of a new centre party, the contours of a new Britain became apparent. In many ways, the events of 1981 now seem like ancient history. But for good and ill, we live in a world they created. What will future historians say of the year 2011?

Top 50 Political Myths | TotalPolitics.com Top 50 Political Myths Written by Ben Duckworth on 17 July 2009 in Interview Interview Whether they concern election results, favourite pop bands or sexual misdemeanours, many tales about politics are completely untrue. We count down our favourite falsies A favourite of some political historians, this alliance would have changed the political landscape of the 20th century if it had happened. It is highly questionable - half of Liberal MPs defected to the Tories in the early 1930s. 49. Basildon swung to the Conservatives in the 1992 General Election This Essex seat remains a hugely significant bell weather marginal in general elections. The Conservative victory in 1992 was seen as concrete proof that an unlikely fourth term beckoned for the party. In reality, the seat swung to Labour, but by a grossly insufficient amount. 48. Labour's ethical foreign policy This phrase was used to pillory Robin Cook's tenure as Foreign Secretary in Blair's first term. It overeggs Cooks' philosophy. He merely called for an "ethical dimension to foreign policy" in 1997.

The foreign philosophy which pulled Blair towards joining the Iraq War proved even more unpopular. 47. The EU banned bendy bananas This caused a stir in 1994 and is often used as an example of why the EU is an overly bureaucratic madhouse. Unsurprisingly it's a large exaggeration. The EU does classify bananas according to quality and size but a bend is still allowed. 46. Blair ate rabbit during the Granita ‘pact' This rumour emerged out of the deal that secured Brown's acquiescence in 1994 to Blair's run at the Labour leadership. It was even included in the Michael Sheen-David Morrissey screen version of the infamous meal. However, the Brown camp probably made this up to make Blair look like an effete, modish Islingtonite. 45. Labour councils banned black bin liners in the 1980s as racist Often used to portray the madness of the Militant and far-left wing local administrations that ruled in places such as London and Liverpool, this was never true. A ban would be quite believable now - but for environmental reasons. 44.

Interest rates hit 15 per cent during the ERM crisis The ERM debacle, when Britain was humiliatingly forced to abandon membership in 1992, is often measured with the above statistic to reveal the full economic horror of that time. In reality, the government announced on 16 September that the rate would go up to 15 per cent on the following day, but that never happened because we crashed out of the mechanism on Black Wednesday. 43. Herbert Morrison: "We are going to build the Tories out of London" London has often been a battleground, with insidious plots hatched by various parties to gain political advantage. This quote, the opposite of Shirley Porter's attempts to move Labour voters out of Westminster in the 1980s, was apparently made when Morrison was leader of London County Council in the 1930s. It has never been proven and his biographers claim it is apocryphal. 42. Lord Curzon once got on a bus and asked the driver to take him to his club A terrific story from the early 20th century about an upper-class aristocrat struggling to understand how public transport works. Sadly, it is too good to be true.

It never happened. 41. Alan Clark said that Michael Heseltine was the sort of person who had "bought his own furniture" The quote is actually from Michael Jopling MP. But it could easily be an example of Clark's acid wit, and he mentions it in his diaries, which explains why it stuck to Clark rather than Jopling. 40. "If a man is not a socialist at 20 he has no heart, if he is not a conservative at 30 he has no brain "You could have a Top 50 of Winston Churchill myths alone. While this phrase is often cited to justify Churchill's own vacillating political position, it wasn't said by him at all. It was uttered by an obscure French politician Political myths 39. The young in the US were strongly against the Vietnam War The myth that Vietnam split America's generations is actually untrue. Opinion polls showed consistently that young people were more likely to support the war than the older generation. 38"America is our oldest ally" The closeness (or perceived closeness) of the special relationship sometimes transmogrifies into the above misconception. Portugal has been our oldest ally since 1381.

The Americans have only been our permanent allies since the Second World War, with the formation of NATO. 37. Duncan Sandys was the ‘headless man' in the 1963 Argyll divorce photos One of a sudden rash of salacious stories in the early 1960s, the suggestion was that the Conservative cabinet minister was the unidentifiable naked man at an upper-class orgy. He wasn't, although he later admitted this was simply luck, because he could have been. 36. Making love to Nicholas Soames was "like having a large wardrobe fall on top of you with a very small key" This image was briefly revived by the more mischievous commentators when John Prescott's affair with Tracy Temple was exposed. But the initial reference to Soames originated from an anonymous woman and has never been verified, so makes our list. 35. The Conservative 1979 victory was thanks to Saatchi & Saatchi The advertising campaign undoubtedly provided some iconic images, particularly the famous ‘Labour isn't working' poster, but its success can be overstated. Labour actually made up ground in the campaign period. 34.

Labour ran an unprecedentedly efficient and slick election campaign in 1964 which wiped the floor with the Etonian Conservatives Labour's 1964 election campaign often gets praise it doesn't deserve. Actually the campaign was a mess, the party got 11,000 fewer votes than in 1959. It is not really such a good example of a party responding to changing social trends. 33. Jimmy Carter was attacked by a killer rabbit Fishing near his hometown of Plains, Georgia in 1979, the then President realised a large swamp rabbit was swimming towards his boat. A flustered Carter had to flail at it with his oars. The story leaked out, and it became known as the Killer Rabbit Incident after a Washington Post cartoon. 32. Harold Macmillan resigned as PM because of the Profumo affair Not true - John Profumo, Secretary of State for War, resigned in June over his affair with Christine Keeler. Macmillan left office in October because he was diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer. Which also proved wrong, Macmillan lived until 1986. 31.

Margaret Thatcher was particularly unpopular with the Scots OK, poll tax wasn't a roaring success but Thatcher lost only 0.7 per cent of the Scottish Tory vote between becoming Conservative leader and her last election in 1987. Which is a better record than Heath and Macmillan. 30. Clement Attlee is "a modest man, but then he has so much to be modest about" Churchill detested this quote being attributed to him because he was immensely grateful for Attlee's support as deputy PM during the Second World War. 29. Britain was forced to go cap in hand to the IMF in 1976 Yes, it is true that we humiliatingly received an IMF loan, but we were not forced to do so. Everyone in government got their figures wrong and it was later realised that the reduction of the budget controls and money and credit controls meant the intervention was unnecessary. Viewed as humiliating, Labour's economic reputation did not recover until New Labour arrived in office in 1997. 28.

The introduction of the poll tax in Scotland was an experiment The infamous poll tax was introduced in Scotland a year earlier than the rest of the country, in 1989, by a rapidly panicking Conservative government. The move is sometimes ascribed to some peculiarly anti-Scottish bias of the Thatcher government. However, a coincidental change had caused sharp residential rates rises north of the border. It was always planned to introduce it to England and Wales as soon as practicable. 27. Harold Macmillan described privatisation as "selling off the family silver" This quote is supposed to have emerged from a speech given by the former PM to the Tory Reform Group in 1985. The full quote is: "The sale of assets is common with individuals and states when they run into financial difficulties. First, all the Georgian silver goes, and then all that nice furniture that used to be in the saloon. Then the Canalettos go." Selling off the family silver has now become a cliché often used by journalists. 26.

Peter Mandelson was hounded out of office by the press for his second resignation in 2001 During Tony Blair's time in No 10, the media were often blamed for deliberately picking epic battles with the Government. Mandelson's second resignation in January 2001 from his position as Northern Ireland Secretary being a prime example. It led to the famous "I am a fighter, not a quitter" speech by him during the 2001 election. Actually, Lib Dem MP Norman Baker asked the crucial written question in the Commons that led to his departure from office following inquiries from Mandelson over a passport request from the Hinduja brothers. 25. David Mellor wore a Chelsea kit while making love Made up by Max Clifford, but this delightful image contributed to the John Major government being beset by sleaze and sex scandals in the early 1990s. 24. Gordon Brown is an Arctic Monkeys fan The then-Chancellor in fact told New Woman magazine in 2006 that the Sheffield band (pictured above) really woke him up when he heard them on the radio.

He later confessed he preferred Coldplay and has professed admiration for Pop Idol, X-Factor and Britain's Got Talent contestants. 23. Jeffrey Archer lied about going to Oxford University The peer and novelist gained an education certificate from Oxford so under all measures he did attend, even if not as an undergraduate. 22. Labour won the 1966 election because of England's World Cup victory There is nothing like a sporting victory to raise a nation's spirits and gain some political capital. But the year of swinging London saw Labour hold the election before the important event of the year, England's only World Cup victory. Somewhere in many memories the timeline has become mixed up. 21. George W Bush was an uneducated hick Folksy he may have been, but the second Bush president remains the only Commander-in-Chief to hold an MBA from Harvard Business School. 20. Catholics are not allowed to be Prime Minister Tony Blair may have waited until he left No10 before joining the Catholic faith but no constitutional barrier would have prevented him from doing it while PM. This enduring myth hasn't been true for close on 200 years. 19.

"Any man who finds himself on a bus after the age of 30 can count himself a failure" Margaret Thatcher's rather harsh measurement of success was really uttered by Loeila, Duchess of Westminster. It stuck on Thatcher because it seemed to sum up her contribution to the rapacious, money-grabbing culture of the 1980s. 18. Labour governments become progressively more unpopular There is a general rule that Labour in power becomes broke and more unpopular. However, the Clement Attlee administration of 1945-1951 emerged with two million more votes in the 1950 general election, but the first-past the post system reduced their majority significantly. 17. "They are going about the country stirring up apathy" Thatcher's deputy, Willie Whitelaw, was famous for his "Willie-isms" but was misquoted during the second 1974 election campaign. He actually said: "They are going around the country stirring up complacency". Which is still an odd statement, as noted by Simon Hoggart who was present, but not the one widely reported. 16. "It was the Sun wot won it" The famous headline does not speak the entire story.

The Sun didn't declare its support for the Conservatives until close to the1992 general election and it's very debatable how much influence it had on voting. That didn't stop it claiming the credit for the Tory victory. This was the second classic Sun headline in two days as it followed the Kinnock light bulb image of the previous day. 15. Margaret Thatcher only won the 1983 election because of the Falklands War The Falklands conflict did boost support for the Tory party. However, Labour's 1983 Manifesto wasn't called "the longest suicide note in history" by Gerald Kaufman for no reason and the emergence of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) split the left-wing vote. Polls were also beginning to point upwards for the Tories before the war. 14. Watching "Wor Jackie" Tony Blair claimed to have sat and watched Jackie Milburn play at Newcastle at the Gallowgate End. Except he didn't. The Radio 5 Live interview in 1997 from which this myth emerged didn't include any such claim. 13.

Margaret Thatcher was hugely popular as Prime Minister Despite her undeniable obliteration of most political rivals - until her own party stabbed her in the back - Thatcher never won more than 43 per cent of the vote in her three general election victories. 12. "On yer bike" - Norman Tebbit The Chingford skinhead's actual statement at the 1981 Conservative Conference was much softer: "I grew up in the ‘30s with an unemployed father. He didn't riot. He got on his bike and looked for work, and he kept looking ‘til he found it." This mythical sentiment by Thatcher's close ally was seen as an insult to the millions of unemployed in early 80s Britain. 11. "Crisis, what crisis?" Another Sun headline that passed into folklore. PM James Callaghan came back from an international economic conference in Guadeloupe to a rapidly degenerating Winter of Discontent in 1979, and was reported to have callously dismissed the emergency. What he really said when surrounded by reporters at the airport was: "I don't think other people in the world would share the view [that] there is mounting chaos." 10.

"And you, madam, are ugly. But I shall be sober in the morning" Evidence of Churchill's cutting response to Bessie Braddock or Lady Astor's accusation of drunkenness cannot be found. Apparently it was an old gag even in pre-Second World War days. 9. "Events, dear boy, events" Used since the late 1950s to explain how events that are out of a Prime Minister's control often thwart them. It appears everywhere when a government is faced by crises, but it's a misquote. Harold Macmillan actually talked about "the opposition of events". 8. "Hug a hoodie" Part of the odd triangulation of recent British politics, where a Labour government accuses the Tory Party of being soft on crime, this phrase was coined by Tony McNulty in an interview to dismiss David Cameron's explanation of why young hoodlums deserve love. Cameron never said it, and has claimed it's his most misrepresented statement. 7. Michael Foot's donkey jacket The garment worn by Labour's then leader at a 1981 Remembrance Day service was actually a short overcoat. Even the Queen Mother complimented him on it.

The comment that it was a donkey jacket came from a critical Labour MP watching on TV and the image stuck because it chimed with the stereotype of Foot as a scruff. 6. Weapons of mass destruction Saddam Hussein had used the hideous weapons in the past, but the WMD that formed the basis of The Evening Standard's infamous "45 minute" headline were never found after the invasion and undermined one the key reasons presented by Tony Blair for Saddam's removal. 5. The Speakership rotates Ignore this ‘rule' that the Speakership rotates between the two main political parties, which was a strong theme of the recent acrimonious election of John Bercow. While Conservative MPs believed it was ‘their turn', in fact the Speaker almost always comes from the governing party, except when enough government MPs vote for an opposition member (such as Betty Boothroyd and John Bercow). Over the last few decades, the Speakership has generally alternated between Conservative and Labour, but only due to changes of government between Speaker elections, not because of any constitutional convention. 4. "Yo!

Blair" Listen carefully to the notorious recorded conversation between George Bush and Tony Blair during a break in a G8 meeting in St Petersburg, Russia in July 2006. The greeting sounds far more like "Yeah Blair". This also doesn't seem particularly polite and Bush even carried on eating as Tony Blair leant over his shoulder to discuss the Israeli- Palestine issue. However, "Yeah Blair" wouldn't have been as funny or memorable. The Yo greeting became the subject of books, articles and was commonly used as a biting comment on Britain's declining status within the ‘special relationship'. 3. All MPs are corrupt Once the Daily Telegraph got hold of the disc with details of MPs expenses at the start of May, the expenses saga dominated the news for nearly two months. It supposedly revealed venality that would have made 18th century politicians blanch. While the stories were jawdropping and it culminated in a catastrophic crisis for parliamentarians, around 220 MPs have paid money back to the fees offi ce - that's roughly a third of MPs. So the majority of MPs are not corrupt, guilty of abusing the discredited expenses system or of even paying back money to look honorable. Something to remember among the furore.

2. John Major tucks his shirt into his underpants Steve Bell, the Guardian cartoonist first drew Major as a "crap superman" wearing his underpants over his trousers in 1990. Alastair Campbell, then a Daily Mirror political journalist, subsequently claimed to have spotted that Major tucked his shirt into his pants. It was brilliantly vulgar and believable if you believed Major's Spitting image puppet was an accurate portrayal. Of course, it was not true - it was a completely unfair and successful attempt at character assassination that further undermined a Prime Minister crashing towards election wipeout in 1997. Major himself refused to discuss the idea, saying it was designed to destabilise him. But it did raise a few titters. 1. "Can I have some of that guacamole with my fish and chips?" So delicious a story it quickly passed into folklore and becomes our favourite political myth of all time. Unfortunately, Peter Mandelson didn't mistake mushy peas for an avocado dip when ordering a haddock supper in a Hartlepool fish and chip shop in the 1990s. But it seemed to fit his image as a dapper, metropolitan man used to higher social circles.

Opinion differs as to whether it was an American researcher's mistake at the Knowsley by election in 1986 or an insult from the Militant days in Liverpool. Neil Kinnock has been blamed for spreading the rumour.

Question: Who said in a 1981 speech "I grew up in the 30's with an unemployed father. He didn't riot. He got on his bike and looked for work"?
Answer: NORMAN TEBBIT